Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 410 TAKE 2

To be honest, I was used to at least a little foreplay. Hanging around, talking about everything, back and forth for at least a few hours. But no, I got to where the Blackbird was parked and we were taking off and Scott was telling me to suit up.

“Already?” I asked, surprised by how serious he was. 

“Yes, Mr. Sinister either already knows we are coming, or will soon,” Scott said. He threw a leather armor plated X-Men suit at me and moved to the controls. I dropped the suit on the plane floor. If I was going to fight it would be in my Watanabe heart encrusted hoodie. The others already strapped in, the plane lurched upward causing me to nearly fall. Then without warning it shot forward. 

My brain instinctively trying to use chakra to latch onto the floor I cursed at Summers as I fell back. I could feel the joy he felt from that one. “Get some depth perception!” I yelled at him. 

“Get serious,” he said. “The United Kingdom is only an hour away in the Blackbird.” I held back a whistle, we were barely out of the US. It should have been at least another 5 hours to get there. The X-men really did have the best toys. 

My body got used to the speed and I dragged myself closer to the cockpit. The interior of the plane was more spacious than the private jet I rode in earlier, but everything was darker. Less seats as well there was a small table that Wolverine, Jean, and Professor X sat at. 

“What did you want to talk to Forge about?” Professor X asked. 

“Upgrades to the Danger Room,” I admitted. “Just ideas for now.”

“And how did you know he built the Danger Room?” Professor X asked.

“Lucky guess,” I said. “So what’s next? Do we tell our bureaucratic overlords about this mission?”

“Fury is already aware,” Xavier said. “We will be meeting his team there.”

“He has another team?” I asked, annoyed.

“Of course,” Xavier said. “We often work in conjunction with them.”

“Ah, regular humans,” I said with a nod. “So my first real X-Men storming of the castle. Anything I should know?”

“Don’t kill anyone,” Wolverine said.

“That’s…obvious,” I said, noting the fact for future reference. “We got flashbangs? Decoder rings? Utility belts?” 

“Our communicators are mounted in the collar of the suit,” Jean said, pointing to the one I dropped on the ground.

“Fuck, do you have portable ones?” I asked. 

“No need,” Xavier said. “You like to improvise your own strategy. I doubt you would listen to orders anyway.” His hostility was plain to see. I narrowed my eyes at him, unsure which part of what I had done had made him so cold to me.

“Fine, Luffy plans are fun. Maybe I’ll jump out of the plane and just start blowing shit up,” I said. I knew the old man was strong enough to probably wipe out my memory and make me forget everything I ever knew. But he was always the good little soldier that used his powers for..not evil. “Professor, I am here. So use me, man. You say I am a part of the team but keep forgetting about me.”

“I don’t forget about you, Weston. You seem to forget that you are still a child,” Xavier said.

“Oh, and she is an adult?” I scoffed, pointing at Jean. “Come on. I am the youngest X-Men to ever pass your tests. I am so good you let me join early.”

“You bullied your way into the group,” Wolverine laughed.

“I strategically blackmail-I mean found a method to get in early,” I said. “Come on. I am built for this shit. Going on missions. Seeing all the mutant powers out there. Collecting them all. I want to be here.”

“Weston, wanting to be here, and being ready to be here are two different things,” Xavier said. I was starting to think the only reason he agreed to take me on was to keep me away from the Hellfire Club. “I was hoping to start your training on these sorts of missions when we got back. Storm was already preparing for you.”

“Oh come on? The Danger Room? This is on-the-job training,” I said. “There’s no better time to learn than when death is a real possibility.” He didn’t like that response. “I’ll stick to Wolverine like a tick on a…wolverine. Please, put me in coach. I swear, no improvisation. Unless there’s jazz music, then I make no promises.” 

Xavier had already made his decision. His eyes shutting he nodded again. I was getting bored of having to fight for my right to party with the X-men, but I was speed running the whole ordeal so it was worth it. “Fine. No improvising. Wolverine, you’re in charge of him, again.”

“Why do I get to babysit you?” Wolverine asked, but I could tell he was happy for me. 

“Oh come on, you’re basically my mother hen,” I said sitting next to him. 

“You call me that, and I’ll show you what wolverine’s do to their young,” he warned out the side of his mouth. 

“W-what do they do?” I asked, curious. 

“No idea, but I doubt you would like it when you found out,” he warned. 

“Yes, sensei,” I said, putting on my best mentee look. 

“Better,” Wolverine said, patting my shoulder. “Want a cigar?”

“Yes, please,” I said, taking it from him.

“Logan,” X warned.

“Oh come on, the kid is already risking death.”

“Not in the plane.”

“Fine, afterward,” he said, taking it back. “Victory cigars.” 

—

“General Ross, I didn’t expect you here,” Xavier said. His wheelchair whirring as it drove up the grass hill, we approached a large tent with military vehicles parked around it.

“X, I’ve been on the tail of this sicko for a long time,” General Ross said. “Come on, we are almost ready.” He waved us in and people moved to make room for us. I looked around, but didn’t notice anyone else inside the tent that I knew. But I wasn’t the youngest person there at least. A young woman with short cut blonde hair stood near the back. Curious who she was, Ross began to explain. 

“Thanks to your clue,” Ross said, pointing at the map. “We found that this estate is in a little bit of ownership limbo, but at the same time is drawing huge power requirements from the grid.” There was an aerial picture of an actual castle. I couldn’t tell much about it, but there was no moat, and only grassland around it. 

“Anything on the Hellfire club?” Scott asked as he studied the map. 

“They landed, that’s about all we got,” Ross said. “Seismic readings of the area say this place has a basement. A big one. All heat signatures are in the basement as well,” he said tossing out some blurry photos. “We know this guy is a sick fuck. Go in planning to stun, but if worse comes to worse, I don’t want him escaping.” He eyed all the black ops people around him. 

“General, we do not do that sort of thing,” Xavier reminded. 

“I know that. But I’d rather this guy dies instead of any of my people,” Ross said. “Bag and tag people. We head out in 10.” He stepped back and the military personnel went back to their work. 

“Do I get a gun?” I asked, raising my hand. Ross stopped in his tracks. Turning around he stared at me and smiled. 

“The human mutant boy,” he said, a hint of a Southern accent in his tone. I was surprised, I hadn’t heard much of any accents to far. 

“I prefer pirate ninja meta human mutant once and future king,” I said truthfully. 

“Well, I hear you saved my granddaughter,” he said. “So, get what you want.”

“Sweet,” I said and found a trove of them with my Observation Haki. Before I could head outside though Jean grabbed my arm. 

“Weston, you can’t be serious,” she said, locking eyes with me. 

“I just want a souvenir from my first raid,” I said sadly. “Besides, I really doubt you all will let me loot the place.”

“Goddammit, you’re going to be a handful,” Wolverine grumbled. I felt Cyclops’ haki flare in rage, but the professor was ignoring me. He was worried about how badly this could all turn.

“Suit yourselves,” I said and walked off as I gave Jean a wink. Instead of going right for the cache of guns I took the long way. Focusing my Observation Haki around the area I tried to get a sense of things. This group was sort of a preamble to the Avengers. Back before the government realized how unprepared they actually were. 

Some of these people had very strong Spiritual Energy, but as I felt them none used any special powers. Positive that some may have been changed by a Diet Super Soldier serum or something. I watched the tent where the nerds were working. Typing away as they used drones and satellites I was hoping to catch one type in a password or something, but none did. 

“What are you doing?” A girl asked, making me turn around. I put on my best smile as I turned to face her. It was the young blonde. Her hair was cut short. Muscular, she had one of the highest spiritual energies around. Her eyes watching me in the dark like a cat I noticed her lack of a bust, but was always interested in meeting new people. Maybe it was my own superpower but I tended to attract the women of canon as of late. I was starting to enjoy it. 

“I was trying to take a leak,” I said. “But there are so many people around, I got nervous.” I could tell she didn’t believe me. Her Haki lukewarm she had no emotions whatsoever showing. Her eyes continued to watch me and I asked, “Are you a ghost?”

“What?” She asked after a pause. 

“I have a power to see ghosts. No one else seems to see you. Maybe you’re not real,” I said, squinting at her.

“I hadn’t heard you could see ghosts,” she said slowly, studying me. 

“So you have heard about me? In your ghost circles? What are they called, seances?”

“I’m not a ghost,” she said. There was a pulse on her Haki, but not enough to tell me anything. 

“Then how did you move so quietly? Ninja training perhaps?” I asked. There was another pulse. “No…not ninja. Assassin?” I asked. That time there was an actual reaction. I still couldn’t hear her breathing but it was easy to see she was trained to kill. For how young she was I tried to think back to who she would be. 

“I’m Weston,” I said, putting on a smile as I approached her. She moved to defend herself, but caught herself. Hesitating she grabbed my hand. 

“Yelena,” she said.

“Yel…” I said, remembering the Black Widow show. Wasn’t Yelena, Scarlet Johanssen’s fake sister? Taught to kill in the Red Room. But she was supposed to be Russian, not working for the Americans. I frowned, unsure what could have changed in this world. “Well nice to meet you ghost girl,” I said and walked away. 

After a few paces she began to follow me. Worried that Ross sent me a shadow I made it to the truck with the guns. “I’m supposed to get a gun and a badge,” I told a man hanging out the back.

“Don’t care,” the guy said, jumping down he ran off somewhere else.

“Ah the military in all of it’s glory,” I said and moved into the truck. Rifles, handguns, blades, and vests lined the walls. One major change I had made to my Hero Costume this time around was adding interior pockets. Moving to the handguns I picked one up and slid it into an inner pocket, away from sight. I doubted I would need it, but it would be good to have one.

“What are you doing?” Yelena asked, her cat eyes staring at me as she hardly blinked.

“Arming myself,” I said as I began to look through the knives. I had plenty on me, but I tended to throw them around for fun. Chipping the blades or losing them I began to grab replacements. Luckily the military had a nice set of throwing knives. I picked up the heavy blades and switched them out with a few of my own. 

“Why are you haunting me?” I asked the girl. 

“I am not haunting,” she whispered. 

“Monitoring me then?” I asked. Her Haki pulsed again, telling me she was assigned to keep an eye on me. It seemed Ross didn’t trust any of X’s men. Not that I could blame him. Who knew what would happen if one of us had a deadly weapon and decided to use it on him. 

Once I was satisfied I had stolen enough I turned to face her. “What’s your story then?” I asked, locking eyes with her. Her big eyes stared at me for a while. No answer forthcoming. 

“Ummm I’m going to guess…trained as an assassin,” I said. “In a super secret organization that injected you with some sort of-” She made a move for me. A smile never leaving my face I dodged her hands easily. Her movements clear with my Observation Haki, I was able to twist her arms around, forcing her to spin. She never lost balance though, stronger than I expected she crouched and moved to trip me.

“Are you flirting with me?” I laughed as she moved from one technique to another. A master of martial arts, it was useless since she was attacking in such obvious ways. Trying to use as little movement as possible I moved just out of her reach with each attack. Long seconds she tried, then abruptly stopped.

“What do you know of-” She stopped talking as a massive explosion sounded. Turning to face the source of the noise a huge fireball shot up into the sky, nearly as big as an atomic bomb. 

“Guess I know why they’re called the Hellfire Club now,” I said as the plume of fire rose up. A smile on my face, this was getting exciting.